Valve



H. E. WIRTH March 21, 1950 VALVE Filed Aug. 28, 1945 tlllllllllllllll/ Patented Mar. 21, 1950 VALVE Henry E. Wirth, Worthington, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to the United States of America as represented by the United States Atomic Energy Commission Application August 28, 1945, Serial No. 613,157

Claims.

This invention relates to valves and more particularly to valves that permit a now in one direction only.

Apparatus for permitting a flow in one direction only generally employ an involved mechanism or have parts which are subject to wear.

It is an object of this invention to provide a simple valve for permittingthe passage of gases or fluids through a conduit in one direction only.

It is\a further object of this invention to provide a simple positive-acting valve which is sub- :lected to a minimum of wear.

It is another object of this invention to provide a valve that falls into place under gravity to close the valve passage and is opened by the pressure of the unidirectional flow.

These and other features of the invention contributing to its simplicity of construction and dependability in operation will be apparent from the following detailed'description of a preferred embodiment taken with the accompanying drawings in which the singleilgure is an elevational view in section showing my valve in an evacuating system.

In general, the valvel of this invention comprises a glass system composed of a conduit entering a vertically disposed chamber which isy provided with awafer resting on a ring which encircles the end of the conduit in the chamber.- The ring is positioned flush with or slightly above the end of the conduit and provides an airtight seal with the wall of the chamber so that the wafer resting on the ring plugs the backward passage of gas or fluid from the chamber above the wafer through the conduit.

The drawing illustrates a glass lling and evacuating apparatus comprising a vertically disposed conduit I connecting a bulb 2 and a chamber 3. The conduit I is fused to both the bulb 2 and the chamber 3 and extendsinto the chamber 3 a suicient distance to form a cavity l with the walls of chamber 3. The cavity 4 is filled with mercury which settles in a pool 5 around the vertical disposed conduit I. Mercury is lled into chamber 3 until the surface 6 projects slightly above the end 1 of the conduit l.

The non-wetting characteristic of mercury on glass forms the surface 6 into a convex meniscus whichv provides the raised portion of surface 8 above the free end 1 of conduit I so that a disk I placed on the surface B will be raised slightly above the end 1 of conduit I. The disk 8 resting on the mercury pool 5 creates a seal which prevents a gaseous flow from the upper part of chamber 3 into the conduit I.

Referring now to the operation of my valve in a gas system as shown in the drawing, a gas entering the system through a tube 9 is passed through the bulb 2 and chamber I by filling the bulb 2 with mercury from a flask I0 by raising flask I0, after the bulb 2 has been filled with gas from the tube 9 with the flask I0 lowered. The flask III which is filled with mercury and attached to a nipple on the bottom of bulb 2 by a rubber tube II may be raised above and lowered below bulb 2. Gas from tube 9 is passed into bulb 2 by holding flask I0 below bulb 2 to drain the mercury from bulb 2 to a. level below the inlet I2 of tube 9. To evacuate the gas from bulb 2 the ask I0 is raised above the bulb 2 so as to pass the mercury through the tube II and raise the mercury level above the tube inlet I2 and fill bulb 2 with mercury. The mercury rising into bulb 2 forces the gas from bulb 12 up through the conduit I. This evacuated gas raises the disk 8 and escapes into the chamber 3 and thence out through the vent I3. f

When the gas has been completely evacuated from the bulb 2 by the mercuryI the flask Ill is lowered below the bulb 2 and the mercury descending into iiask I0 leaves a lowered pressure in bulb 2. The disk l now seated on the mercury 5, prevents backward flow of the evacuated gas from the chamber 2 into the conduit I. When the mercury clears the inlet I2 the gas in tube 9 is drawn into the bulb 2 by the lowered pressure and the procedure is'repeated. Any suitable mechanism may be provided for raising and lowering the flask Ill. A by-pass tube I4 around the bulb 2 prevents the bulb 2 from being broken by violent uprushes of gas from tube 9 as the mercury descends from the bulb 2.

The level of the mercury pool may be slightly varied so that the disk 8 may either be seated on the end 1 or raised slightly of! conduit I. In either case `the seal is made by the disk 8 resting on the mercury pool 5 ringing the conduit I. The surface of end 1 is plane ground so that when the disk 8 contacts end 1 a tight seal is provided against the passage of gases from the chamber 3 back into the conduit I.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art thatvarious modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention as disclosed herein, and for that reason it is not intended that it should be limited other than by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. A valve comprising a conduit extending up- 3 surrounding the protruding end ot saidconduit. and a dat wafer resting on said liquid ring to seal the opening in said conduit from said chamber.

2. A valve comprising a conduit extending upwardiy into a chamber, a pool of mercury surrounding the portion oi said conduit extending intosaidchamberandaiiatwai'errestingonsaid pool ot mercury to seai the open end or said conduit from said chamber.

3. valve apparatus comprising a glass chamber, a glass conduit sealed to said chamber and extending upwardly into said chamber, a pool ci mercury within said chamber surrounding said conduit, and a nat wafer resting on said pooi ci' mercury, whereby said wafer is raised by pressure in the conduit.

4. Valve apparatus comprising, in combination: a chamber; a conduit protruding upwardly through the bottom o! the chamber and having an upper end within the chamber spaced from the side walls thereof; a liquid filling the space between the conduitand the side waiis and having an upper level coinciding at the conduit with theupperendoitheconduittoiormananmilar iiquidmeniscus abovetheleveioitheendot theconduit;andafiatwaferrestingonthe1iquid meniscus.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the chamber and the conduit are glass and the liquid is mercury.

, s HENRY E. WIR'I'H.

REFERENCES CITED The foliowing references are of record in the tile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

